Six-time state champs
Shiner St. Paul defeated Arlington Grace Prep 49-34 at Waco Midway Panther Stadium
on Friday, December 2, 2106 to earn their sixth and back-to-back TAPPS state football championship.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]

photo by José Torres, Gonzales Inquirer Sports

HEWITT — Early in the season, Shiner St. Paul struggled with turnovers, giving up too many while
not forcing enough. Though conquering the turnover battle isn't enough for a win, Cardinals'
head coach Jake Wachsmuth understood it gave his team a better chance at taking the TAPPS
Division IV state championship.

With Arlington Grace Prep Academy driving late in the game, the Cardinals, up 42-34, came up
with a what would be a title-clinching turnover as Jacob Darilek sacked Lions' quarterback
Jeremiah Tucker, forcing a fumble that Joseph Natal picked up for the 53-yard touchdown return,
giving St. Paul an insurmountable two-score, 49-34 lead with 40 seconds remaining on the clock.

"That's a heck of a team," Wachsmuth said of the Lions. "They got guys all over the field that
can make plays. I hate to say it but we were just trying to figure out a way to get one stop
just one time. Fortunately, we got a couple of turnovers at crucial moments. Boy, they are
really good. They're really good."

St. Paul's offensive game plan was well known by all involved. The Cardinals were going to run
the ball and try to eat up as much clock as possible to limit the amount of possessions the
high-powered Grace Prep Lions had.

The opening series proved just that as the Lions showed off their explosiveness with a quick
touchdown on their first offensive drive, just taking off 77 seconds of game clock on five
plays. St. Paul answered with a 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took 10:09, a big contrast
to Grace Prep's offensive looks.

"Well I think when you're playing a team that good on offense…I mean we think we're a good
offensive team but we're different and you want to try to limit how many times they touch the
ball," Wachsmuth noted. "We were satisfied with three or four yards a pop."

St. Paul would finish the day with 63 rushes for 470 yards, led by Conor Kresta who had 42
rushes for 336 yards and five touchdowns.

"We don't do any of that without the line with those guys blocking and fighting," Wachsmuth
explained. "It was pretty obvious what we were going to do, they knew what we were going to do,
we knew what we were going to do and we just did it."

As the offense rolled on, the Cardinals' defense struggled to stop Tucker who had a stellar day,
throwing 21-of-26 for 332 yards and three touchdowns. The sophomore quarterback also led the
Lions in rushing with 102 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.

But the turnover battle was won in the fourth where Shiner forced their first of the quarter,
second of the game, with 6:24 on the clock. A Tucker to Matthew Tucker pass was completed for
about 10 yards before the Cardinals stripped him of the ball. Alex Hull jumped on it to give St.
Paul a key possession as they led 35-34.

Quarterback Austin Barton ran the ball for three yards on the first play, then the Cardinals
relied on the push from their offensive line and the legs of Kresta to get to the end zone for a
touchdown. The 54-yard touchdown drive gave St. Paul a 42-34 lead with 1:48 left as Wachsmuth
opted for the point-after kick by Frank Benes, who was a perfect 7-for-7 from that distance.

Grace Prep began their drive, due to a pooch kick, on their own 38 and immediately completed a
20-yard pass to get to St. Paul's side of the field. A few plays later, the Cardinals had their
first sack of the day, forcing the Lions to call their final timeout with 53 seconds left.
Immediately following that timeout, Darilek had St. Paul's second sack of the day, forcing the
fumble as Natal picked it up and returned it for that final score.

"Earlier in the year [turnovers were] killing us," Wachsmuth admitted. "We had five, four, three
… and you're not going to win games like that. Now you're not necessarily going to win if you
don't turn it over but you give yourself a lot better chance and the fact that we created a
couple there at the end of the game was huge."

Friday's state title win is St. Paul's second in a row, fourth football championship in their
last six years and sixth in school history (1992, 1997, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016). The
Cardinals end their season 11-3 and, more importantly, a champion.